How Things Change
by Macs-a-million
Summary: They were closer to her than her own mother was. But when she is forced to leave and the last thing Kendall says to her is he never wants to see her again, what does she do when she needs him? How do you escape abuse when you have no one left?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I began writing this story ages ago, forgot about it, remembered it and decided to change it into a BTR fan fiction. Normally I would not write with Kendall being a main character, as I find it hard to write about him, however for this story he was the one that best fit the bill. So I hope you like this story, I will be uploading more chapters as soon as I have the available time.**

**This chapter and the entire story will contain flashbacks, but this chapter more so as for the story you need the background. This chapter is more of a prologue, as I said before to give the back story. I hope you like it. R&R!**

**Also, in this story Katie will be 18, Eva will be 19 and Kendall will be 20. BTR has not happened in this story, however in future chapters it will be included, but James, Carlos and Logan will still be included in this story.**

Eva pulled her thin, worn cardigan around her shivering body. It was the only warm piece of clothing she had left. Glancing at the clock it was already 11 p.m. He would be home soon, she knew. The bruises around her face from the last time he came home were still purple and shining, but she knew there were just more to be added. She heard the door slam and the sound of a slap hitting flesh. She ran out of the room, as much as she despised her mother for allowing their lives to get to this, her mother was all she had left.

"_I'm going to beat you this time Evie!"_

"_Not on your life, Kenny. I'm gonna win this!"_

_That was how their Wednesday afternoon was always spent, the only day when they weren't together as a trio. As Katie left for her tennis lesson the two would walk down to the park with Kendall's old football. The three had been best friends for years, they mothers having known each other since they were little. Eva was almost a year older than Katie, but Katie was still in the same class, while Kendall was a year older than Eva. Though, they all were as thick as thieves._

_Just as Eva was about to kick the football through the trees they had decided many moons ago were goalposts Kendall grabbed her around the waist and tackled her to the ground. They sat there, Eva on top of Kendall's 15 year old chest, laughing until they finally needed to stop for air._

_Neither of them knew the mess they were going to face when they arrived home. _

"_You have no right telling me what to do Jennifer! It is my life, my decision and she is MY daughter!"_

_Kendall and Eva could hear their mothers screaming at each other inside the house from Kendall's driveway. They gave each other a worried glance before going inside. Eva followed closely behind Kendall as they walked in to the kitchen to see both their mother's fighting. _

"_It maybe your decision, but it doesn't just affect you! Do you think moving in with that man is a good choice at this moment; it's barely been a year! She spends more time here than she does around you, she is still so upset and you think making her move hours away from friends and family to live with a man she has never met is a good idea? Do you even notice how you not being there makes her feel? Ever since Patrick was killed you have distanced yourself from her! You don't even notice when she isn't home, because she is here crying! You don't notice because you're too busy trying to forget. You don't notice how she has never gotten in a car once with you since that day! You don't know how many times she has ran over here in the middle of the night and I have found her crying in Kendall's arms because she doesn't want to be alone when you're out all night with him! John and I have practically become her parents," Kendall's mother retorted. _

_Kendall turned to Eva and saw tears in her eyes, he wrapped his arms around her afraid she would fall to pieces. _

_At that point both women noticed their children in the room. Eva's mother grabbed her bag and walked towards the door, grabbing Eva out of Kendall's grasp and pulling her with her. Eva glanced back and saw the hurt expressions of both Jennifer and Kendall. _

_That was to be the last time she would see the Knights. Her mother dragged her to her car and forced her inside. Eva sat gripping the door handle the entire ride. She had no idea where they were going, just that it was extremely far away and that she was utterly terrified. They pulled into the long ride-around driveway and stopped outside a mansion-like house in Washington. There was a tall stern man standing at the front door with arms crossed. He looked to be around 45with greying hair and a hard face. _

_Eva sat still gripping the door and chair unable to move as she watched her mother get out of the car and walk over and kiss the man._

_Her mother had been, I guess what you could call, dating Nathan Dunstan for about 6 months or there about. He was a politician who lived in Washington. You may have thought that would mean he was a good man, but he was a self-centred, greedy, violent pig. Mandy started going with him 3 months after Eva's father, Patrick died. Eva had met Nathan once, and that one time was enough to know she never wanted to be near that vile man. After that she had taken to be at the Knight's whenever they were around, or out for that matter. To Eva, the Knight residence was her home now, because her house felt anything but. _

_Grabbing her bag out of the car, she walked inside following her mother and him. They pointed her in the direction of what was to be her room and walked to what she assumed would be theirs, and from the sounds being emitted down the hall 10 minutes later she knew it was definitely their room. She stood in the middle of the room, for such a large house the room was so small and bare. There was a single bed in the middle, a desk and bookshelf. All in all the room was about 3 metres by 3 metres. _

_She sat down on the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, she had never felt so alone._

_The weeks passed, and she had not talked to any of the Knights since she had moved to Washington. Nathan had taken away her phone, she wasn't allowed to use the computer or use the home phone. None of which her mother objected to, all her mother wanted to do was please Nathan it seemed. She didn't even care about her own daughter or her emotional wellbeing. It was 2 months since she had moved in when they allowed her to write a letter for the Knights and that Nathan would post it on his way to work. _

_Eva sat at her desk, with a blank sheet of paper. She couldn't get anything into words. She wanted them to come rescue her, to take her home._

_She gave Nathan the letter that night and he said he would post it as Eva turned to go to bed. Once she was gone from his office he opened the letter and read it. Both Mandy and he had agreed she should be allowed no contact with the Knights, but with the way she was acting they had come up with a fool proof plan. How could she want to go to them if they hated her? _

_Writing his own letter based extremely loosely on Eva's he slipped it into the envelope with an evil smirk._

_When Eva got a letter addressed to her she was over the moon, even more so when she saw it was from Kendall. Opening it, the smile faded and the tears came at what she was reading. _

"_Eva,_

_It's nice of you to finally write to us. We were worried, but seeing how wonderful your life seams I guess we were just wasting our time. We're glad you have new friends and like school there so much better. A new girl moved into your old house and has joined me and Katie. We go down to the park every Wednesday. We're best friends now, it's like I have known her for years. I'm hanging out with James, Carlos and Logan more these days. They got me into hockey, it's so much better to actually play than what we used to do in the winter._

_Everyone at home is fine, Lisa, the new girl is friends with Katie and in the same class. They do everything together now. Mum and Dad are good. Nothing's really changed. _

_Hope everything stays is as good for you as it is for me,_

_Kendall"_

_Eva's heart broke with every sentence. What was he talking about, how wonderful everything had seemed? In that letter all she had said was how she wanted to go home, to be with them, how much she missed them. That she hated Washington, that her mother didn't care about her, that she had no friends, that she was all alone. _

_She sank to the floor of her bedroom and cried, re-reading the letter. Katie and Kendall had replaced her, they didn't need her. _

_Eva wrote a few more letters, each time receiving as cold a reply from Kendall as the first. It was the second last letter she got from Kendall that hit her hard. His father had died. He had a heart attack one night and Kendall's mother had found him dead on the floor of his study. Kendall had said that the funeral was on Saturday._

_She had begged her mother and Nathan to go to Minnesota for the funeral. They had refused point blank. They said it cost too much money. It was then that Nathan started to continuously tell Eva how lucky she was that he let her stay with them, and that it cost so much to keep her._

_Eva wrote back immediately telling Kendall she was so sorry, but her mother and Nathan would not let her go to the funeral. _

_The next letter that came was the last letter that she ever received from Kendall._

"_Have a good life Eva, obviously you never wanted, needed or loved us. You hurt not only me but my family. I can't forgive you._

_Do not write again, because we don't need you, want you or love you anymore._

_Goodbye, Kendall"_

_Eva slowly began to hate Kendall Knight as the weeks turned into months. She had no idea what he couldn't forgive her for. He may as well have hit her in the stomach with his words. They were the people who had become family to her when her own mother wasn't. She had torn the necklace Kendall gave her for her 13__th__ birthday off her wrist. She had put it along with every other thing she had received from the Knights' in a small box and put it in the bottom of her wardrobe. To be forgotten._

She reached the living room and he was there beer bottle in hand, on top of her mother, hitting her, slapping her, slugging the beer bottle across her face. Eva could see the blood pouring out of her mother's nose, and busted lip.

She ran over and tried to pull him off her. No one deserved to be treated like that. He stood up to his full height and turned to face Eva. She shrank back in fear, glancing at her mother, who was trying to drag her body off the floor.

"What have I told you about staying in your place, you little bitch," he snarled.

Eva tried to back away but he was too quick, he grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her closer to him. He lifted his arm, the one that held the beer bottle and slugged it across her face; she could hear the crunch as it impacted with her nose and broke it. At least it was better than her mother getting the entirety of the beating. After all it was mostly Eva's fault, she had taken the money without asking her mother and her mother was the one getting punished.

Bringing her back to reality, she winced as her back collided with the corner of the coffee table, before her body slid to the floor, only to have him kick her entire body into submission. Her body was screaming in pain, but she did not make a sound, for fear that the beating would only intensify

_She could see the headlights coming straight towards them._

"_No Dad! No!"_

_Eva sat up, breathing heavy. She wiped her eyes to try and get rid of the images; however no matter how hard she tried there was nothing in the world that could make her forget that night._

_She had been at a birthday party. A girl that lived in her street was supposed to take her home, but left without her, so Eva called her dad. She loved her dad, they were really close. They were only 5 minutes from home though when her life would be changed forever. She saw the lights first, they had been laughing and joking and the next they were hit. The truck rammed them driver side on. She came out of unconsciousness and saw her dad, lifeless beside her. She knew he was gone. She knew it was her fault. _

_Eva had not forgiven herself for that night. If only she hadn't gone to the party or caught a ride home with Kendall instead, things would be different, she wouldn't be in the situation she was in now, her mother wouldn't blame her for what happened and act like she didn't exist and she wouldn't be forced to live with a man that physically abused her._

_Nathan and her mother had a fight one night, he went out and got drunk, her mother stayed home and got drunk. Needless to say when he came home and she was the first one he saw things were never going to end well. Eva remembers it vividly, Nathan yelling at her that she was a mistake, a waste of space, cost too much to keep, was worthless, useless, disgusting, ruining everything. At first she refused to believe it, but as the beatings became more frequent he began to manipulate her mind, made her think it was her fault. Her mother dealt with it to, but refused to leave him. She would rather be unhappy with him and suffer the consequences when she had 'done something wrong' than be alone. So her mother married him, as if it would be a way to make him stop. If only, it made it worse._

_Things took a turn for the worst one night. Nathan came home drunk, nothing unusual though. Eva was in the kitchen and the minute she saw his face she knew she was in for it tonight. He had lost his job, and blamed it on her, why she didn't know but he did. He beat her bloodied, and then carried her up to her room. Slipping in and out of consciousness he ripped her clothes off, Eva too weak to stop him. She gasped in pain as he rammed into her, tears streaming down her face as he finished, pulled his pants up and left the room as if nothing had happened. That was the first night he had sexually abused her, but it most certainly was not the last. She was just 16 and her step-father had forced her virginity and for the first time in a year she thought of Kendall. Where was her knight in shining armour when she did need him?_

_Eva was about to turn 18 when they moved back to Minnesota. Nathan had lost his house, after he lost his job he couldn't get another one, and then went on to spend the money he did have on alcohol. She stayed at home all day, if he found out she went out she would get punished for being bad. If she spent any money she knew the consequences. She had not seen Katie, Kendall or Jennifer since moving back, nor did she want to. She hated them, for leaving her, for not saving her, but more than that she didn't know how to face them. Kendall had said he never wanted to speak to her again, that she was basically dead to him._

_Sitting in the same room that she couldn't even call hers she trembled. This house was not her home; these people could not be called her family. How had her life gotten to this? She had no one to turn to, no one left. How was she ever going to escape?_

He smashed the bottle against the ground, resulting in the top of the bottle breaking away jagged from the bottom. He pointed it at her and hit her with it; she could feel the blood seeping into her ripped shirt, running down her bruised arms. But then he was off her, she could see her mother wrestling with him. Mandy yelled at her daughter to run, but Eva stood there in shock. Pulling away from her husband, Mandy pushed Eva out the door, telling her to find somewhere safe, not to come back and that she was so sorry and loved her so much.

Eva ran, and ran and ran. She had no place in mind to go; she just needed to get away. Her mother had done that one thing that showed to Eva her mother was still in there, she had saved her. Her thin clothes got soaked as rain started to pour down. She had no phone, no money, nothing. She turned into the familiar street subconsciously.

She finally took in her surroundings and stood, unable to move past the gate of the house. It had been 5 years since she had seen the house. They mightn't even live here anymore, crossed her mind as she opened the gate. She knocked on the door before she could stop herself.

Hearing a knock at the door, Jennifer Knight groans, she was about to hop into bed. Who on earth would be at the door at this hour? Katie was out, but she knew where the spare key was and besides it wasn't late enough for her to be home yet, and Kendall was in his room. She unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. She couldn't help the slight gasp that came out of her mouth.

"Eva?"

**Author's Note: So I hope you guys like the premise of the story. The next chapters will be more present day, the characters dealing with the situations they have faced and coming to terms with their struggles. Please review and let me know what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thank you to those who have read this story and reviewed/favourites/alerted. It means a lot. Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

Eva stood there fear showing through her eyes. She didn't know where else to go, for a long time they were the closest thing she had to family. They were still the closest thing she had to family. But what if they hated her?

At that moment Jennifer woke up from the initial shock. She took in the busted lip, the black eye, the blood dripping from the cuts on her face and body, the bruising.

"Oh my lord, sweetie what happened to you?" she said as she opened the door fully and led Eva inside out of the cold and rain. The adrenalin Eva had coursing through her system was slowly starting to wear off and she could feel the after effects of her latest beating as she walked over the threshold to the house she missed so much. She shivered her soaked, thin clothes nothing against the Minnesota weather.

Jennifer put an arm around the girl lightly, afraid she would hurt her as they walked into the entrance way. Just then, a tall male came around the corner, talking as he did so.

"Mum, who are you . . ." The tall male stopped mid-sentence as he saw the scene in front of him.

Eva couldn't stop the miniscule smile that came to her lips. He was wearing black tracksuit pants and a black and white baseball shirt. He hadn't changed all that much but he had broadened out over the shoulders, grown tall, and his muscles and jaw were more defined. She looked up into those green eyes she had loved and envied so much, and right to the bangs and mop of dirty blonde hair. The smile was wiped off her face when his expression turned to worry and concern, things she never thought she would see again.

"Evie?" it came out breathlessly. No it couldn't be her, it . . . no. Despite all the bruising and blood she looked even more breathtakingly beautiful than she had when she was only 14. She looked so tiny and fragile, like she would break like fine china. He looked into her eyes, they were different, they were full of life that last time he had seen her, now they were just grey and blank.

Eva gasped slightly. Kendall was the only one ever allowed to call her Evie. It was his name, and only his. Hearing him say made her wish nothing had changed.

Jennifer led the trembling girl over to the couch in front of the fire. Kendall following behind, a look of stupor on his face.

"Kendall grab a blanket would you?" his mother asked. Kendall just turned to the hallway without a word and grabbed a thick woolly blanket out of the cupboard before returning to the room and handing it to his mother who laid it across Eva's shoulders.

"I'm going to get you some tea sweetie, Kendall stay here would you?" His mother bustled out of the room and Kendall took a seat on the couch beside Eva, the couch dipping under his weight.

Eva turned her head to look at Kendall. They both just looked at each other, neither sure what to say.

"What . . . What hap-" Kendall began, but was cut off as Jennifer returned to the room. She sat on the coffee table in front of Eva and passed her the cup of tea.

Eva tentatively took a sip, the liquid warming her throat as it slipped down.

"Who did this to you?" Jennifer asked, slowly.

Eva hesitated, taking in a short breath as the tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill over as the brutal scenes replayed in her mind. But no force would be strong enough to stop them as they began to fall down her face.

Slowly she began, "My stepdad came home drunk again. He got into an argument with mum, over how much money things cost as always. I was sitting in my room and I could hear his hand connected with flesh as he started to slap her, so I ran out and tried to get him off her. I may despise my mother for what she put us into but no one deserves to be beaten, and she was still my mother. He turned on me and started hitting me. He pushed me and I fell and hit my back on the coffee table, then slid to the ground. He had a beer bottle in hand and he smashed it so he held the top with jagged glass coming out, he smashed it across my face and body and hit me with it. My mother had gotten up off the floor and pulled him off me, she managed to distract him from me. She mouthed at me to run, I couldn't. I just stood there. Then she literally pushed me out the door and so I ran. He kept the car-keys hidden and never let me use the car, so I ran. I had no idea where I was going, but I ended up turning into this street. I don't know what made me do it, but I had nowhere else to go. I have no one left."

By the end, Eva was sobbing uncontrollably, her face in her hands.

You could have heard a pin in the silence that followed. Both Knights' just sat there taking what she had said in.

"How long has he been hitting you?" Jennifer asked in a concerned voice.

"Hitting, since not long after we moved in with him. At first I thought it was normal and that I had done something wrong, but it got worse, he'd beat me up every time he saw me, every time something pissed him off. I didn't think it could get worse at that point but it did just over a year ago..."

"Eva, what happened a year ago?" Jennifer questioned

She didn't answer, amazed that she had already told these people she hadn't seen in about 5 years so much. What state would her mother be in now? She had to go back and take it for her. Why did she come here, it was just going to make things worse.

"I . . . I have to go..." Eva tossed the blanket off her shoulders and stood up. She turned to go as a hand grabbed her left wrist.

"What did he do to you?" Eva took in a sharp breath as she realised it was Kendall that spoke and had grabbed her wrist. She looked down to see his green orbs staring intently at her. She could see the anger behind them, but even deeper the overwhelming concern.

"He...he..." She softly began but couldn't finish as tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"He what?" Kendall asked softly looking deep into her eyes, his hand slipping from her wrist to hold her hand in his.

"He started sexually abusing me." It was barely above a whisper as her knees gave out and she fell back onto the couch, taking her hand away from Kendall to hold her head in her hands.

"Oh sweetie," Jennifer said holding her hands in her own.

Kendall's hands were balled into fists, shaking with rage. Anger flowing through his veins, in extreme amounts.

"Why didn't you and your mother leave?" Jennifer stated her own voice slightly shaky.

"Mum said that he loved her, and she was just not being a good wife. She doesn't know half of what he did to me. Every time he touched me, he said if I were to leave, I would never be able to see my mother again, and that he would track me down and find me and things would be a whole lot worse. He said no one would believe me, how could I prove it anyway?" she scoffed.

"Sweetie, I want to take you to the hospital and have you checked out. Kendall take her out to the car while I just changed quickly and call Carlos' father." Jennifer said before rushing out of the room.

"No, I'm okay, I don-"

"Eva, no discussion, you need to go to a hospital," Kendall said as he stood up. He held out his hands and Eva took them lightly, jolting slightly as the electricity of the touch flowed through her. She winced as she stood up, her body aching. She waited as Kendall quickly ran and got a hoodie before returning. Kendall bit his lip but didn't say anything as he led her out to the car, the rain having stopped. He helped her into the backseat before getting into the passenger seat.

They sat in silence, neither knowing what to say.

"I missed you Evie," Kendall said, looking down at his hands.

"I missed you to Kenny, more than you know," Eva whispered in reply.

"You know, I have thought about you every single day since you left Eva. Even after what you said, about never needing me and that you had better friends, better everything. You were my best friend and I never once stopped needing you," Kendall stopped afraid his voice would crack.

"Kendall, every day I was gone I missed you, every day I needed you, every day I wished I was back home. In every letter I said how much I hated it there and that I just wanted to go home and be with your family, because that's where my home had become," Eva's voice was shaky as she let out the last sentence.

"But in your letters you never said that, you always said how you never wanted to come back," Kendall let a single tear fall from his eye. He had not cried since the day Eva had left, he had not even cried when his father died. He swiped it away, afraid that it would mean everything would finally come crashing down.

Before Eva could respond the driver's side door opened and Jennifer climbed into the car.

They arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes later. Jennifer ran in ahead of her son and Eva to tell them the situation as Kendall helped Eva out of the car.

Kendall and Mrs Knight had to stay in the waiting room as the doctor examined her.

Luckily she had no broken ribs, just severe bruising. The doctor cleaned all the cuts on her body and removed any of the glass fragments still in them before putting tape over them, none of them needed stitches.

Mrs Knight and Kendall came into the room just as the doctor was finishing. Before they had a chance to even sit two police officers showed up.

One of them must have been the person Mrs Knight had called before they came because she immediately went to talk to him. Before Eva had time to react the curtains were drawn and the two officers began to ask her questions.

"Sweetie, I'm going to get some coffees and a little something to eat from the hospital cafeteria," Kendall's mother said to him as he leant against the nurses' counter staring at the drawn blue curtain.

"Kendall?" the voice woke him out of his thoughts.

"Logan? Didn't know you were here tonight," Kendall replied standing up and shaking the extended hand of the dark haired man dressed in blue scrubs. Logan was currently studying medicine with a clinical placement; he just happened to get night shifts a lot.

"Yeah, got called in at the last minute. Why are you here dude, is everyone okay?" Logan asked.

"Do you remember Eva?" Kendall asked in a quiet voice looking at the ground.

"Eva, as in . . ." Kendall nodded in reply. Logan seemed to be lost for words, but at that specific moment he got called away by a nurse.

"I'm sorry man, I have to go, I'll check back in with you later if your still here or I'll give you a call," Logan said before turning and walking down the corridor.

A couple minutes later the curtains opened and Officer Garcia and another officer Kendall didn't know stepped out.

"Kendall, we're done here for tonight. Take care of her son, she is extremely shaken up, she's going to need a lot of care and support. Tell your mother that I will ring and let you know when you need to come into the station," Kendall nodded at Officer Garcia's words before walking over to Eva's beside and taking a seat in the chair beside it.

He could see the tear-stains on her cheeks. Obviously having to recount the bad memories yet again was not doing her any good.

He slid his hand out and covered hers in it, giving it a slight squeeze.

"It's going to-," that was as far as Kendall could get before they were both faced with the sight of Eva's stepfather.

Kendall jumped to his feet and stood in front of Eva, separating her from Nathan.

"Get out now!" Kendall snarled.

"What right do you have to tell me what to do? This your new protector, you new boyfriend Eva, ha. Come on we're leaving," he cursed pushing Kendall aside and grabbing Eva's wrist. Kendall tried to pull him away from her, but before he could react Nathan had spun around and punched him in the gut. Kendall doubled over in pain as Eva sat there shaking at the scene playing out before her, tears gushing down her face.

"You can't tell me to leave, she's my daughter," Nathan yelled at Kendall before pushing his shoulders.

"Oh yeah, that's rich what kind of sick bastard brutally beats his daughter and sexually abuses her," Kendall spat, pushing Nathan back.

"Get the fucking hell out of this hospital now," Kendall growled.

Nathan shrunk back, knowing he had to leave before this got to out of hand.

"Don't think you can ever come back to my house again, and don't think you will ever get to see your mother again," he snapped before briskly walking out of the hospital.

Kendall turned and slowly walked back to Eva's bedside. She was shaking, holding her knees to her chest, sobbing, hiding her head against her knees. He didn't want to scare her, so he gently reached out.

"He's gone, its okay Eva," he whispered. Gently pressing his hand onto her shoulder.

Eva looked up; Kendall could see the overwhelming fear in her expression.

"I . . . I . . ." she couldn't speak. Kendall reached forward and gently lifted her trembling form so she was closer to the edge of the bed before wrapping his arms around her. Eva sobbed into his shirt, grabbing fistfuls of it, like it was the only thing holding her to him. Kendall gently stroked her hair and just kept whispering, "It's okay Evie."

"He hit you, and everything is my fault. If I had just dealt with it rather than running away none of this would have happened, and I could have looked after my mum," Eva cried into his chest.

"Shh, Evie. None of this is your fault; it's going to be alright."

Kendall just stood there beside Eva's bed holding onto her, when his mother returned.

"I heard something happened," she released quickly as she took in Eva and Kendall's embrace.

"He found her," Kendall whispered as his mother put their coffees down on the table beside the bed and sat down beside Eva and gently rubbed her back.

Minutes later Eva's doctor came back to say she could go home. But where was home now?

"I can't go home," she replied softly.

"Sweetie, there is no question, you are coming home with us," Jennifer stated, grasping Eva's hand in her own.

Eva just shook her head, "No, I can't impose on you like that. I've bothered you enough tonight, I've kept you up and you're at the hospital with me at 2 in the morning. I shouldn't have dragged you into this mess."

"There is no way that we're letting you go out on your own, not with him around," Kendall snarled, acid seeping through his tone.

"You need to be woken every couple of hours, just to ensure there is no damage from the mild concussion you received," her doctor stated.

With a slight hesitation Eva nodded her head, as Jennifer squeezed her hand.

They all stepped outside for her to change quickly. She pulled on the jeans she was wearing and the top, but her thin cardigan was still soaked, and in tatters, with blood soaked through it. She pulled her hair up again in a messy bun.

Opening the curtain, she walked over to Kendall and his mother. She wrapped her arms around her, shivering, the tattered cardigan in her hand.

Kendall unzipped his hoodie and put it around Eva's small shoulders before she could complain. With a small smile she slid her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up, revelling in the warmth and the smell of Kendall.

She climbed into the backseat of Jennifer's car and Kendall followed her into the back this time. The trip back to their house felt 100 times longer for Eva, she was almost asleep with her head on his shoulder when he whispered, "Eva, we're back you have to wake up now."

Reluctantly she groaned as he moved out of the car and she followed behind to move herself out. She gasped slightly when she felt his hands on her hips helping her out. Kendall steadied her on her feet, but as she began to walk towards the house, she wobbled. Kendall caught her before she fell. How he wished he could be holding her in different circumstances, not helping her because she was weak and fragile from being abused.

The three walked inside the house and Jennifer went about making the fold out couch as comfortable as possible for Eva. She gave Eva a long sleeve shirt and long pants to sleep in.

"Now sweetie if you want anything just let me know okay. I'll come wake you every couple of hours," Jennifer told Eva and

"Ma, don't worry about it I'll wake her, you need a good sleep. It is already 2.30 and you have to leave by 8," Kendall said with a tone that said no arguments.

"Are you sure Kendall?" she asked. He just nodded as she said her goodnights. Kendall went to his room and came back quickly with a clock. Before she could ask what he was doing he had climbed over the fold out bed to the other couch which was now blocked off. He leant with his body the opposite way to Eva so he could see her before putting the clock on the coffee table that was beside the armrest. He grabbed an extra blanket off the end of Eva's bed and draped it across himself.

"You don't have to sleep out here, I'm perfectly fine, and you don't have to get up every two hours, just leave the clock and I'll be fine." She began to babble. Kendall sat up and climbed across towards her and placed a finger over her lips.

"I'm sleeping out here, I will be waking you up to ensure you are okay, we both know that you are not fine, you need to stop babbling and go to sleep otherwise you body will have no time to recuperate. No arguments, okay?" he said gently with a smirk.

She gave up and gave him a small smile and nod. Somehow it felt at that moment like no time had passed since the last time she had seen them. She wished that things hadn't changed.

"Eva, did you really mean what you said in those letters, that you never wanted to come back, that you didn't miss us?" Kendall asked a few minutes later, as he stared at the ceiling in the dark.

"I never said that, I said I missed you all more than anything and I just wanted to come back."

"Yes you did, not once in your letters did you say you missed us."

"I did, I would write them every time I got a new one and give it to . . . him to post for me."

"Eva, I think he might have re-written your letters to try and stop you wanting to come home," Kendall whispered as he finally worked it out.

Eva nodded, even though he wouldn't have seen her. How come she hadn't thought of that possibility before?

'_You didn't think coming here would let you escape did you? Ha, you're lucky I don't just kill you right now, but then again where would the satisfaction you could give me be,' He snarled, alcohol forever evident on his breath mixed with the smell of tobacco. "Take off your clothes before I hit you, you imbecile.' Before I could move he was ripping my clothes off. He started hitting my naked body.'_

Kendall awoke to the sounds of struggling. He sat up and saw Eva tossing and turning, wrapped up in her blankets. He climbed across the bed until he was beside her.

"Eva..." he said in an attempt to wake her up and pull her out of her nightmare.

"Eva," he repeated again softly, whilst gently shaking her.

"Eva come on, wake up," he tried again.

Eva slowly opened her eyes, and they came to focus on Kendall who was situated above her. She looked around, she was in the Knight's living room and slowly the events of the night came back to her. Eva's breathing was haggard, her brow coated in sweat, hands shaking. She looked into Kendall's eyes as she sat up.

"It's okay, it was just a dream Eva," he whispered as he reached across to push the strands of hair off her face.

"He was touching me," she said shakily, tears pushing at her eyes. The tears began to fall and her body continued to shake. Kendall moved from his stance sitting on his knees, to sit beside her before reaching for her.

"Its okay, you're safe, he can't hurt you," Kendall whispered as he pulled Eva in to his chest. He put one hand behind her head and the other around her midsection. He could feel her tense away as he put his hand there. He leaned back and looked at her face as she winced in pain.

"How much did he hurt you Eva?" he questioned, worry coming through. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she lifted the shirt up to the bottom of her bra. He gasped as he took in the large purplish bruises covering her stomach and back.

"Shit, Evie..."he murmured. He tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but could you just stay here beside me, just until I go to sleep," she mumbled, her eyes pleading.

"Of course," he said as he lay down beside her before ever so gently pulling her towards him. She laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her ever so gently, while still being firm. He did not care about her tears soaking his shirt as she cried herself to sleep. He just lay there, looking down at her pained face as he shushed her to sleep.

The both awoke as they heard a door slam.

"Mum, I'm . . ." she paused when she saw the girl she had grown to hate for so long lying in a fold out bed on her brother's chest.

"What the fuck is going on?" Katie yelled as Eva and Kendall both jumped up startled

**Author's Note: So there is chapter 2 over and done. I hope you liked it. It didn't go the way I wanted it to, I couldn't get it quite right, but this was as good as I got. **

**Let me know what you think! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: First of all I just want to thank everyone who had reviewed/favourite/alerted this story. I can't believe the response I have received for this story already, it's overwhelming.**

**Before I start this chapter I just want to clear up a few things that I either left out accidently or didn't make clear. As I said before I changed this story off one I wrote a while back and it was slightly different, that's probably why it didn't make sense. In the other story they fought over different things.**

**Anyway, first of all Kendall, Logan, Carlos and James are all aged 20 in this story. One review said they didn't realise how old they were until they read that Logan worked at the hospital. I just want to clear up that Logan is not a doctor yet, I live in Australia and those studying medicine do clinical placements where they do experience at hospitals, I do not know if this is the same case in other countries. I introduced Logan at the hospital just as a way of bringing him and other outside characters into the story. In this chapter and future ones you will see how they have impacted on the main characters lives.**

**Also, someone said why didn't Eva use a pay phone, computer, or realise about the letters. I apologise if I didn't mention this, but Eva was not sent to school in Washington, she was home-schooled and not allowed to leave the house. The letters were also sent before the abuse began, so at that stage she didn't have much incentive to think he would change them, as she was not allowed to leave the house she just thought he would mail them. If there are any more queries about her life in Washington let me know and I will clear them up.**

**I got reviews saying how nice Mrs Knight and Kendall are; in future chapters there will be more about their personal thoughts and experiences as well.**

**I got a review saying how bad a person her mother was. I have got to agree there, in future chapters we will learn more about her mother, and what went on with the circumstances of Eva's father's death, maybe some things Eva didn't know. So anyway, we will see Mandy again, whether in good circumstances or not you will just have to continue reading.**

**So I hope that clears up any points that I missed in the first couple of chapters. Please review and let me know if there is anything else that needs clearing up, as for Katie's reaction, you will just have to read to find out.**

**Love you all!**

"What the fuck is going on?" Katie yelled as Eva and Kendall jumped apart startled.

Katie turned and stormed off in the direction of her mother's room, just as Jennifer Knight appeared in the doorway.

"Mum, why the hell is she here, or is she just another one of Jason's whores now?" she expelled, throwing her hands in the air.

"Watch your mouth Katherine Knight, you do not know what has gone on tonight," Jennifer said in a stern tone to her daughter.

By this time both Kendall and Eva were standing in the hallway, staring at the two before them. Kendall had his fists clenched in anger, his lips set in a straight line. _'How could Katie call Eva a whore? How can you just judge a situation when you have no clue as to what had happened. I would never treat Eva like that anyway, she's . . . to important.'_

Kendall was snapped out of his trance when Eva's timid voice broke the silence.

"I should go, I knew coming here was a mistake," Eva turned and moved hastily towards the door. She ran out and up the street, glad that it was no longer raining, but wishing she had something to guard her bare feet from the freezing cold ground. She could hear someone following, but she didn't stop. She was halfway up the street before Kendall had caught up to her.

She stopped running when his hands grabbed on to her shoulders and held her back. She turned in his grasp to look at him.

"Eva please don't go because of Katie. She doesn't know what has happened, and she is just bitter because she felt like you betrayed us. Besides it's already 4 in the morning

"Kendall, I . . . I should just go home, just forget what happened. I'll call the police and tell them I made it up and everything will be fine," Eva looked at the ground afraid that if she looked into his eyes, he would crack her reserve.

"No fucking way, Eva. There is no way you are going back to that house when he is there. Please at least stay for the night, then if you really want to go I won't stop you. Please . . ." he pleaded.

"I don't want you to feel obliged to have me stay. I haven't talked to you or your family in years and I don't expect you to so much as allow me through the door. I don't want to upset Katie and cause a rift," she stated.

"Eva, don't worry about Katie, she'll cool off. Just please stay, for me?" Eva nodded in reply and wrapped her arms around her body, the Minnesota wind swirling around them.

"Come on," Kendall said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to warm her. Unknowingly Eva leant in to Kendall, the warmth of his body radiating towards her.

Hesitantly they walked inside, and Kendall closed the door behind them. Eva walked out to the lounge room where Katie was situated on her makeshift bed, face as pale as a ghost, Jennifer standing beside her. Eva knew that Mrs Knight had told her.

"Eva, I . . . I'm so sorry about what I said, I was out of line, and Mum told me what happened. I didn't see the bruises before and . . . I'm so sorry," Katie said looking Eva dead straight in the eyes, tears falling from her own.

"It's okay," Eva replied quietly.

Neither knew what to say after that, they just let the silence settle around them.

"I missed you Eva, I hope maybe someday we will be able to get back to the friendship we had," Katie said standing up; she had grown and was now taller than Eva.

"I hope so to, Kat," Eva said before they both wrapped their arms around each other, tears streaming down their cheeks.

After they pulled away Katie and Mrs Knight turned to go to bed after saying their goodnights.

Eva turned and was surprised when she saw Kendall getting under the covers on the fold out bed. He extended his hand to her and helped her into bed, neither saying a word as Kendall pulled Eva close and she rested her head on his chest, quickly falling into a sleep.

Kendall smiled down at the fragile girl, before pressing a light kiss to her hair. He had never thought he would see the girl he had loved and lost again, yet here she was in his arms.

Kendall awoke to see his mother above him shaking his shoulders.

"It's almost 8. I have to go to work soon and if you're going to practice you better leave soon or if you're not going you better call and let them know that you're not going to be there. Breakfast is ready," Jennifer said before returning to the kitchen.

Kendall rubbed his groggy eyes before gently easing Eva off his chest and slipping off the bed. He looked down at her sleeping form, she looked like an angel and he couldn't help but let a smile grave his featured. He decided he would wake her later, after the events of last night she would need the rest. He sauntered into the kitchen, his mother giving his a raised eyebrow over her coffee.

"What?" he chuckled, "Have I got a third eye on my face?"

Jennifer just laughed as she shook her head. _'I hope he knows what he's doing. He's already head over heels for that girl, just like he was 5 years ago,'_ Jennifer thought as she put the coffee mug in the sink before grabbing her bag and keys off the hook.

"I have to go, I'll be back round 4.30 or 5," she stated before kissing Kendall on the cheek and leaving the room.

She had opened a clothing store a few years ago after getting frustrated having nothing to do. It had one downside though, she had to get up early, which meant Katie and Kendall could not bother her once she went to bed, because if she hadn't had 8 hours of sleep she was a monster.

"Okay, bye mum," Kendall called after her.

He sat down and grabbed a stack of pancakes off the plate in the middle of the table when his phone buzzed.

**-You better leave some pancakes for your sister and Eva- Mum**

He let out a small laugh as he finished the pancakes on his plate. When he finished he went to his bedroom, careful not to make too much noise to wake either Eva or his sister and returned to the kitchen laptop in hand.

He was just looking through some information for an assignment when his phone buzzed, signalling an incoming call.

"Hey Mum," he said into the phone, confused as to why his mother would be ringing him already.

"Kendall, Officer Garcia just called me. . ."

Eva rolled over as her eyes opened and the Knights' lounge room came into view, along with the memories of the last 24 hours. She flipped the blankets off herself and sat up. She could hear a voice coming from the kitchen. Slowly she stood up, her body screaming at the action before walking into the kitchen.

She saw Kendall sitting at the table, laptop in front of him, talking into his phone. He gave her a small tight smile as she sat down, before he continued talking.

"James, just . . . I know that Coach is . . . I'll explain later okay, just tell him it's important and I . . . yeah . . . Carlos? He might know, was he at yours or at is parents last night? . . . yours, well then no . . . yeah okay man, I'll be there tonight," Kendall said before ending the call.

"Hey," he said softly to Eva.

She replied quietly, not sure what to say.

"If you're hungry Mum made pancakes before she left, help yourself," he said gesturing to the plate in the middle of the table. She took a pancake and placed it on the plate in front of her.

Just then Kendall's phone buzzed and he gave her an apologetic face.

"Hey Carlos . . . yes I talked to James already . . . no I'm not . . . I know coach . . . just let James . . . okay, okay . . . I'll talk to you later."

"Someone's popular," Eva said with a laugh.

"Yeah it was just James and Carlos. Do you remember them? They just wanted to know why they had to be the ones to explain to coach why I'm not going to be at practice this morning," he said with a smile.

"James Diamond and Carlos Garcia, the guy that was like obsessed with his hair and the guy who always wore a helmet? Weren't they friends with that other guy? Umm, Lincoln, Logan? Practice?" she asked.

"Yes and yes, except James doesn't care about his hair as much anymore when Carlos doesn't care about it, and Carlos doesn't wear the helmet any more except for practice. Yeah Logan's still best friends with them, except he's not playing hockey anymore. Actually they are my best friends. I have a hockey scholarship and I play for college, and hopefully I will get offered a position in the Minnesota Wilds. James and Carlos are both on the team as well," he said proudly, his face still showing a tight smile.

Eva just gave him a small smile in return. "Why aren't you going to practice?"

"My mum called me before . . . They haven't found Nathan, they went and searched the house but some of his possessions and the car were gone."

"What about . . . what about my mum?" Eva said, fear showing through her eyes.

"They found her at the house, but . . . she was beaten really badly Eva. Eva she's . . . she's brain-dead. You have to give them the okay if you want her organs donated, and to turn off her life support," Kendall looked at the girl before him.

"Is it bad that I feel no emotion towards her? I can't even feel anything."

"It's okay, Eva, would you like to go now and get it over with?" Kendall asked, resting his hand over hers.

Eva and Kendall were sitting in the same seats they had occupied a few hours earlier. Eva had given the doctors the clear to take mother's organs. She didn't stay in the room for longer than she had to, begging Kendall to just go. She couldn't be in that room, she just couldn't. Now, she had to deal with a funeral. Just another thing to add to the plate.

Kendall was typing away on his computer and Eva was reading the newspaper they had gotten whilst they were out. She put it down and turned to Kendall.

"I'm sorry about everything that has happened. I bought your family into a mess that you were no longer part of years ago. I'm sorry for imposing on you. It's been . . . a really long time," Eva said a hint of sadness in his voice.

Kendall nodded as he closed his laptop. "Yeah it has been a long time, a lot has changed. Trust me when I say that we were a part of that mess from the very beginning and were still part of it even when you were gone. It's been 5 years, 5 years where I have questioned everything and I need some answers and I think you do to. Eva, can I ask you after what he treated you like why didn't you even suspect that he could have changed the letters?"

Eva hesitated; it was funny how Kendall could just say one thing and the walls holding back the emotion could just fall down in an instant.

"When we left, I felt so lost, I was terrified. I hated my dad for leaving me here without him. Nathan was the closest thing then that I had to a father then, it still felt like he was just replacing the void that my dad left. I wanted to think that things could someone be like they used to. It began slowly, when I never left the house I began to lose perceptions of what life should be opposed to what I had. Somehow I lulled myself into a false sense of security that things would be okay, that things would go back to the way they were and that Nathan wasn't a bad person. Somewhere in that I pushed back the thoughts that I was going to be stuck there forever, and thinking that Nathan changed the letters just made it all the more real that I was never coming back. I wanted to be in your position, you life was going so well, you didn't need me."

Kendall just sat there staring at the wooden floor, deciding what to say next.

"You know when you left I was sure you would come back. Then as the days turned into weeks and months . . . When your letters came, I was happy for you that you now lived in this amazing place. I envied you so much, I felt lost without seeing you ever day. I started hanging out with Carlos, Logan and James. We became close, but it wasn't the same. When my dad died . . . I felt broken. When I got the last letter, I hated you. You seemed so happy in this perfect little world when I was so messed up. _You_ didn't need me, but I needed you," Kendall paused before looking up at Eva.

"No one could have ever wanted to be me at that point Eva. A lot changed. . . I got into drugs, and started throwing everything away. I was failing school and wasn't turning up for hockey. I was depressed. I owe James, Logan and Carlos so much, each for different reasons. James found me one day in the toilets at school snorting cocaine. He fought with me hell over high water to get me to go to a rehabilitation facility. I refused, and then one day at a party I overdosed. James saved me, he managed to get me to a hospital, but I don't know much of what happened. The next day I went to a rehab centre. I was there for 3 months before I got out. I've been clean ever since. I couldn't cope, I didn't know how. I felt so ashamed that I couldn't when I had watched you when they told you your dad died. You were so strong, but I felt like I had nothing left. I hadn't even noticed anything about what was going on around me, how Katie or my mum were coping," he stopped again, looking at Eva's expression.

"Carlos, and I don't know how he did it, got me back into hockey. He gave me back my passion for life. Logan, well that's not my story to tell. A lot has changed in 5 years, but I learnt that you can't hold onto something forever, that sometimes you have to forgive and move on, no matter the circumstances. You have to live life, even if it doesn't follow the straight road you want it to."

They both sat in silence, not finding the right thing to say. Some things had been answered, but a lot of questions still remained. 5 years is a long time after all.

**Author's Note: Well I hope you guys like this chapter. I wanted to show a bit of what Kendall's experiences were. You will find out more as the story continues. I'm sorry if what happened to her mother seemed very rushed, but all will be explained. **

**Please review and let me know what you thought!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: You must hate me for how long it has taken me to post. I am so sorry for anyone who has read my stories and followed my writing. I have been so busy with school, exams, assignments, events, performing arts rehearsals, you name it. **

**I don't know if anyone is still even reading my stories, but if you are I hope you enjoy, and I apologise if this chapter is not up to my usual par as it has been so long since I have written.**

**Love you all, thank you for the support I have received for my writing.**

**On last chapter: Thank you to RockPort268 for telling me about the typos, Jason was meant to be Kendall and the other typo was supposed to be grace. Apologies for these, I had proofread, but missed them.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

Eva twirled her fork around the pasta that was on the plate in front of her, she could barely swallow it.

"Eva, sweetie we have to start thinking about funeral arrangements for your mother," Jennifer said looking up from her dinner sorrowfully.

The words hit Eva like a tonne of bricks as the events from the last 24 hours finally sank in.

She pushed away from the table and walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom, closing the door as sobs wracked her body. She sank down on the floor against the tiles of the in-built bath tub.

Her mother was dead, regardless of what she had done, she was still gone forever. Both her parents were dead; she was an orphan, living with people who should hate her by all rights. People she had no contact with in years, but had just thrust herself upon. Everything had changed.

She looked up as strong arms embraced her weeping form. She opened her mouth to speak but Kendall simply shook his head, pulling her atop his lap as he sat down beside her.

"How can you forgive me? Why don't you all hate me when I was never there for you? I just shoved my way back into your life," her voice shook as she mumbled into his chest.

Kendall stroked her hair, soothing her before he replied.

"I could never, ever hate you Eva. You're my best friend. You always have been, even when you weren't there. What happened isn't your fault; you can't blame yourself for what happened to your mother."

"If I had just stayed she might still be here. Even though she turned a blind eye, she was still my mum."

"If you had stayed you would both have died and then I would be attending your funeral wishing I could have seen you again and said goodbye, told you that I would always be there for you even when you didn't want me. Eva I will be there you when you are broken, I will be there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be there when you need someone to vent to, I'll be there when you need a friend, I'll be there when you need someone to blame and get angry at, I'll always be there Evie, always, I promise.

"It took me a long time to realise you can't blame yourself for other peoples actions. They are their own and you can't control them. Some of us are handed out harder situations, but we just have to move on. You can't change what happens, things play out the way they are supposed to, regardless of how harsh the outcome is. The thing about people is that, we heal with time. You don't get over grief; you learn to live with it. You can have times where every single day you question what if? What if that had happened? What if I wasn't there? But there's nothing you can do to change it."

"I felt like you had deserted me," Eva looked up as Katie's voice broke the silence of the living room as she made the pull out bed on the couch.

"I felt like I had lost my older sister, that you had forgotten me, that you didn't care," Katie sat down on the newly made bed.

"And then when dad died, it was like everything fell apart. Mum began to work longer and longer hours, something to take her mind off it, I suppose. Kendall was never home, most often out drinking or getting high, his life going off the rails more every single day. I felt like I was slipping through the cracks, that I had to be strong for Kendall and Mum, that I couldn't show how upset I was, how broken I really felt. I had to find a way to cope that they didn't need to be faced with as well. They were both hardly ever home and it was easy when I found what I could control. It was as easy as never eating at school or home and then whenever mum or kendall was home for dinner, i threw it up afterwards. I didn't and never will blame Mum or Kendall for not knowing was was going on and stopping me. I hid it fairly well, changed my clothing style, they thought it was just a way to deal with what happened, reinventing myself when really I chose baggie clothing to hide it. I couldn't hide what I was doing from everyone though.

"I got to 40kg and I regularly began to faint, I did one day when I was walking up the driveway to the house. That's when Logan had found me, he had known what I was doing, but I wouldn't let him help me. My body had started to shut down when he did find me. I woke up in hospital a week later. Logan was there beside me, holding my hand in his. Kendall was sobbing beside my mother, his face in his hands. He blamed himself for it. That weekend he went to a party and overdosed. I went to a clinic after that. It took me a long time to get over it, I still find it hard sometimes. I owe Logan with my life, not just because he found me, but he saved me from myself. We've been together for four years now. I want to marry him someday. I blamed you for so long for everything that happened to, because it was easy to put the blame on you when you weren't here. I'm sorry Eva."

A tear slid down her cheek as the lowered the coffin into the ground. It was the first time she had cried since the night of her mother's death.

Kendall gave her hadn a squeeze as they both threw a rose down onto the coffin. Eva had decided to have Mandy buried beside her father. He was the only man she truly loved, Eva knew that. It had taken her this long to realise it, but it was true. Nathan was only a way to get over the grief, he provided an escape, but you can't escape your past. The way she saw it, her parents were together again, the way it should have been forever, but never was.

Eva glanced at Jennifer, knowing that as she cried she wished she had the chance to right the wrongs and fix the friendship that had been stronger for longer than it was broken. To Eva's suprise many of the people she knew when she was younger had turned up to the funeral offering their condolences. Logan was there his arm around Katie's waist with James and Carlos standing beside them. It surprised her especially when they showed up, when she had not seen them in so long, but she knew that as they were all there for Kendall Katie and Jennifer, they were there for her as well, because she was part of the family now, well she had always been a part of their family.

Kendall slept with her on the pull out couch that night and several following. Even still she found it hard to sleep with the knowledge that he was still out there, and that he was going to come for her.

**Author's Note: Well there you have chapter four, sorry for the shortness, I just needed to get back into it and where I stopped the chapter felt right.**

**Please drop me a review if you are still reading this story.**

**Macs-a-million**


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